Sound-box raising and lowering attachment for phonographs



J. W. EVANS.

SOUND BOX RAISING AND LOWERING ATTACHMENT FOR PHONOGRAPHS.

' APPLICATION-FILED APR.3,1920 1,362,859,

Eatented Dec. 21, 1920.

PATENT OFFICE.

UNITE STATES JOHN W. EVANS, 0F WEYERS GAVE, VIRGINIA.

SOUND-BOX RAISING AND LOW/"BRING ATTACHMENT FOR PHONOGBAPHS.

T 0 aZZ w 2 0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoirN W. Evans, a citizen of the United States,residing at VVeyers Cave, in the county of Augusta and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sound-BoxRaising and Lowering Attachments for Phonographs, of which the followingis a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to phonographs, and particularly to the tone armsand sound boxes thereof.

It is necessary to lower the sound box in order to bring the stylus intoengagement with the record or raise the sound box in order to carry thestylusout of engagement with the record. 7

At the present time this is accomplished by shifting the gooseneck whichcarries the sound box, and in order to carry the stylus away from therecord it is necessary to turn the gooseneck almost completely overuntil the gooseneck rests upon the tone arm or upon a bracket carried bythe tone arm, and when it is desired to play the record, the gooseneckmust be reversely shifted through a relatively great angular distanceuntil the stylus rests upon the record.-

Aside from the relatively great extent of movement involved in the aboveoperation and the amount of work which must be accomplished each timethat a record is changed, this operation is objectionable for a numberof reasons. For instance, the shadow'of the hand used in rotating thesound box and gooseneck tends to prevent the stylus from being seen andthus prevents the stylus from being lowered accurately into engagementwith the record groove. Oftentimes the stylus is thus lowered on themargin of the record instead of in the record groove, thus scratchingthe record and injuring the stylus. Furthermore, rings on the fingers ofthe operator or buttons on his coat tend to scratch the record while thesound box is being raised or lowered. v

My invention, hereinafter specifically described, is designed especiallyfor use in connection with what is known as the tungstone stylus, and itis well known that a great Application filed April 3, 1920.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentgd 21, 1920 Serial No. 371,074.

many persons object to the use of this type of stylus, claiming that thesound box is liable to be lowered too quickly or unsteadily by nervouspersons, whereby the stylus will dig into the record groove and wherebythe point ofthe n edle is liable to be injured by a too sudden or toohard contact with the record. I

With these and other objections in mind, the object of my invention isto provide means whereby the sound box and free end of the gooseneck maybe raised or lowered to a requisite extent to lift the stylus from therecord or bring the stylus into engagement with the record without thenecessity of the operator taking hold of the sound box or gooseneck androtating the gooseneck as described.

And a further object is to provide means whereby the sound box need onlybe raised or lowered through a relatively short distance and may belowered gently onto the record.

Still another object is to provide means whereby not only the sound boxmay be raised from the record tablet, but whereby the sound box maybesupported in its raised position as long as desired.

Still another object is to provide a device of this character in thenature of an attachment which may be readily applied to the knuckle atthe connection of the gooseneck with the tone arm.

And a further object is to provide a device of this character soconstructed that the degree to which the tone arm and sound box may belowered may be adjusted.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure1 is a perspective view of a tone arm and gooseneck showing myattachment applied thereto andshowing the sound box in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the tone arm and gooseneck ofmy device;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clip;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the blank from which the clip is made;

Referring to these drawings,, and particularly to Fig. 1, it will beseen that my device comprises a clip 10 formed of a sheet metal blankbent to partially embrace the knuckle of the tone arm A, through whichknuckle the gooseneck B passes in the usual manner, this clip 10 havingone of its longitudinal edges 11 cut out, as at 12, to fit around thetapered extremity of the tone arm so as to hold the clip when it is inplace from longitudinal movement. The material from which this clip ismade is somewhat resilient so that the clip may be easily slipped intoplace on the knuckle or head at the extremity of the tone armandthenwill contract and hold. 9f course, the opposite longitudinal edge 13of this clip bears against the under face of the body of the tone arm,as shown most clearly in Fig. 2, thus preventing any rotation of theclip upon the knuckle which it embraces.

The clip 10 is formed at one end with a laterally projecting arm 14:which is bent to extend forward, as at 15. The opposite end of the clipis formed with a laterally 1 extending arm 16 which is forwardly bent,

as at 17, These arms rotatably support a shaft 18, one extremity ofwhich shaft is provided with an operating handle, as for instance, thecrank shaft handle 19, and the opposite end of the shaft is providedwith a crank 20- which is relatively long and extends beneath thegooseneck B, as illustrated most clearly in Fig. 1. It will be noticedthat the cranks 19 and 20 are not disposed exactly in 'alinement witheach other, and that the shaft 18 extends parallel to the rotative axisof the gooseneck B. 7

Upon a rotation of the'shaft 18 by means of the crank handle 19, it willbe obvious that the crank 20, if the shaft 18 be rotated in onedirection, will lift the gooseneck B, and if it be rotated in the otherdirection, will lower the gooseneck B. In order to hold the shaft 18in'one of its two positions, 1 provide on the arm 14 the stop 21 uponwhich the crank handle 19 will strike when the crank handle is turned tothe dotted line position shown in Fig. 2, that is when the gooseneck israised. 1 have shown this stop 21 as being struck out from the body ofthe arm 15, but I do not wish to be limited to this' In order to supportthe crank 20 in its lowered position, I provide on the arm 1'? the stop22 which is shown as being formed of a lug integral with the arm 17 bentout at right angles tothe plane of the arm and being separated for aportion of its depth from the body of the arm by means of a slit 23.This stop 22 will engage the outwardly projecting arm of the crank 20and limit thedownward movement of this crank 20. The purpose of formingthe slit 23 between the forward edge of the stop 22 and the body of thearm is to permit the forward edge of the stop to be adjusted by means ofpliers to thereby adjust the extent to which the crank 20 may be loweredbefore engaging the edge of the stop.

As before stated, I do not wish to be limited to the particularconstruction which I have illustrated, as my invention might be embodiedin many difl'erent forms without departing from the spirit thereof, soas to make the attachment applicable to the different types of machinesfor which it is intended. Preferably, however, the clip 10 will beconstructed from a rectangular blank, such as shown in Fig. 4, thisblank being provided with the integral arms 14 and 16 stamped out withthe blank, the perforations for the shaft 18 being stamped out in thesearms, and the arms being stamped out re spectively to provide the stops21 and 22.

In the practical use of this device, when it is desired to lift thestylus from the record tablet, the crank handle 19 is rotated from thefull line position in Fig. 2 to the dotted line position thereof, thuslifting the gooseneck to the dotted line position and, of course,lifting the stylus with it off the record. Under these circumstances,the crank arm 20 has passed its center when the crank handle 19 isdisposed against the stop 21 and, therefore, the weight of the gooseneckand the sound box will prevent any accidental reverse movement of theshaft 18 and the sound box will be held raised. When it is desired tolower the sound box, the crank handle 19 is oscillated in a reversedirection to carry the crank arm 20 to the position shown in full linesin Fig. 2 and until this crank arm strikes the stop 22, which will bringthe stylus into operative engagement'with the record.

Inasmuch as the free end of the gooseneck 105 has but a relatively shortdistance to move from a raised to its depressed position, or vice versa,it is obvious that even if the operators finger should slip off thehandle 19 and the sound box should fall, the dis- 110 tance of fall istoo slight for the stylus to be muchdam'aged or for the record to bedamaged to any extent. However, there is very little likelihood of theoperators fingers slipping from the handle 19, and inasmuch 11 as thereis a relatively large amount of motionof the handle'19 for a very smallmovement of the gooseneck, it follows that the sound box will be loweredgently so as to iriiting the downward movement of the sound box and,therefore, the downward movement of the stylus, prevents the stylus fromdropping onto the wood of the cabinet, which is a more or less commonoccurrence where the gooseneck has to be rotated through nearly a halfcircle in order to carry the sound box into or out of operativeposition.

While I have illustrated a crank handle 19 as being the means wherebythe shaft is rotated, I do not wish to be limited to the use of thecrank handle, as it is obvious that the handle could be formed in otherways. Neither is it necessary that the handle should project radially innearly the same direction as the crank arm 20, as the crank handle mightbe extended in other radial directions.

lVhile I have illustrated my device in the form of anattachment, thisbeing the preferable form of my invention, yet I do not wish to belimited thereto, as it is obvious that the device might be made as partof the tone arm or knuckle thereof, if desired.

1 claim 1. The combination with the tone arm of a phonograph, and agooseneck rotatably mounted at one end in said tone arm, of meanscarried by the tone arm whereby the free end of the gooseneck may beraised or lowered. and including a shaft extending parallel to therotative axis of the gooseneck but eccentric thereto and having a handleat one end and having a crank arm at the opposite end extending beneaththe gooseneck, an oscillation of the shaft in one direction raising thegooseneck and an oscillation of the shaft in the other directionlowering the gooseneck.

2. The combination with the tone arm of a phonograph, and a gooseneckrotatably mounted at one end in said tone arm, of means carried by thetone arm whereby the free end of the gooseneck may be raised or loweredand including a shaft extending parallel to the rotative axis of thegooseneck but eccentric thereto and having a handle at one end andhaving a crank arm at the opposite end extending beneath the gooseneck.an oscillation of the shaft in one direction raising the gooseneck andan oscillation of he shaft in the other direction lowering thegooseneck, and stops limiting the range of oscillation of the shaft.

The combination with the tone arm of a pl'ionograph, and a goosoneckrotatably mounted at one end in said tone arm, of means carried by thetone arm whereby the free end of the gooseneck may be raised or loweredand including a shaft extending parallel to the rotative axis of thegooseiieck but eccentric thereto and having a handle at one end andhaving a crank arm at the opposite end extending beneath the gooseneck,an oscillation of the shaft in one direction raising the gooseneck andan oscillation of the shaft in the other direction lowering thegooseneck, and stops, one limiting the downward movement of the crankarm on the shaft to thereby limit the extent of depression of the freeend of the gooseneck, and the other limiting the oscillation of theshaft in the opposite direction to a position where the crank arm haspassed a vertical plane extending through the axis of rotation of theshaft;

4. The combination with the tone arm of aphonograph and a gooseneckrotatably engaged therewith for oscillation in a vertical plane, ofmeans for vertically moving the free end of the gooseneck comprising ashaft operatively supported upon the tone arm and extending parallel tothe rotative axis of the gooseneck but eccentric thereto, said shaft atone end having a crank-shaped handle and at its opposite end having acrank arm-extending beneath the gooseneck, and stops engaging with saidcrank arm and handle respectively to limit the rotation of the shaft ineither direction.

5. The combination with the tone arm of of a phonograph and a gooseneckswingingly connected thereto for vertical movement, of means for raisingor lowering the free end of the gooseneck comprising arms projectingoutward from the head of the tone arm at right angles to the rotativeaxis of the gooseneck, a shaft passing through said arms, one end of theshaft being formed to provide a handle, the opposite end of the shaftbeing formed with a crank arm extending beneath the gooseneck, one ofsaid first named arms being formed with a stop limiting the rotation ofthe shaft to a position where the crank arm has moved upward past avertical plane extending through the axis of rotation of the shaft, anda stop on the 0pposit-e one of the first named arms limiting thedownward movement of the crank arm.

6. An attachment for the tone arms of phonographs comprising a clipadapted to embrace the knuckle or head of a tone arm and extendconcentrically to the rotative axis of the knuckle, supporting armsextending from said clip at right angles to the axis of the clip, ashaft rotatably mounted in the ends of said supporting arms, one end ofthe shaft being formed to provide a handie and the opposite end beingcranked and laterally projecting to extend beneath the tone arm of thephonograph and means for limiting the rotation of said shaft.

7. An attachment for the tone arms of phonographs comprising a clipadapted to embrace the knuckle or head of a tone arm and extendconcentrically to the rotative axis of the knuckle, supporting armsextending from said clip at right angles to the axis of the clip, ashaft rotatably mounted in the ends of said supporting arms, one end ofthe shaft being formed to provide a &

handle and the opposite end being cranked and laterally projecting toextend beneath the tone arm of the phonograph.

8. An attachment for the tone arms of phonographs comprising a clipadapted to embrace the knuckle or head of a tone arm and extendconcentrically to the rotative axis of the knuckle, supporting armsextend.- ing from said clip at right angles to the axis of the clip, acrank handle formed at one extremity of said shaft whereby the shaft maybe oscillated, a crank arm formed at the opposite extremity of saidshaft and laterally extended to extend beneath the gooseneck of thephonograph, a stop carried by one of said supporting arms and engagingthe crank handle and limiting the rotation of the shaft in one directionto a position where the crank arm has passed a vertical plane extendingthrough the axis of rotation of the shaft, and a stop on the oppositesupporting arm engaging with said crank arm to limit the downwardmovement of said crank arm on an oscillation of the shaft in theopposite direction.

9. An attachment of the character described comprising a clip formed ofa rectangular sheet of metal and bent to embrace the knuckle or head ofa tone arm and formed to engage with the body of the tone arm to preventlongitudinal movement of the clip thereon, said clip being provided withoutwardly projecting supporting arms, a shaft passing through thesupporting arms formed at one end with a crank handle JOHN W. EVANS.

